1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Chinese character input device for inputting a Chinese character by using the phonetic symbols of the Chinese language utilizing twelve numeric keys of a keypad of a conventional telephone set or a remote control for operating a conventional television set or audio products.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present-day life has extended the application of an electronic information processing. It has also been rapidly required to input data in Chinese language with no keyboard, but, for example, a keypad of an electronic computer, a portable telephone or a remote control operating a television set or audio products. To realize functions of a telephone directory, a memorandum pad or the function of transmitting and receiving E-Mail or simple messages in those electronic products, they have to be provided with the function of inputting a character. Providing the function of inputting the Chinese language to products can not only increase the value of the products but also enlarge an application range of the product.
Various methods of inputting the Chinese language have been applied. Most of the methods have used mainly a keyboard. It is difficult to apply these methods of inputting the Chinese language using the keyboard to electric products having less number of keys, for example, a telephone set or a remote control for operating a television set or audio products. Recently, there have been presented several patents related to a device for inputting the Chinese language to be applied to a television set or a remote control for operating a television set or audio products. For example, Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 324084 has disclosed xe2x80x9ca device for inputting the Chinese language by a zhuyin utilizing sixteen keysxe2x80x9d. According to this invention, thirty seven phonetic symbols and five tone symbols in the Chinese language are allocated to the sixteen keys of a computer. That allocation can provide a function of determination of input key signal to implement the input function of the Chinese language in the computer. It is noted that Chinese phonetic symbols generally can be grouped into four major groups, that is, Finals serving as vowels, Medials serving as transition vowels, Initials serving as consonants, and Tones expressing intonation. The method using sixteen keys to input the Chinese language can be applied to only the computer but not to a telephone set or a remote control. In the above invention, moreover, the relation of the key with the phonetic symbol of the Chinese language is slightly rough so that it is hard to learn operation.
Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 73890 has disclosed xe2x80x9ca method of inputting the Chinese language with European style Roman letter notation utilizing numeric keysxe2x80x9d in which phonetic symbols corresponding to the Roman letter notation are arranged on eight numeric keys from 1 to 8 to provide the input function by the Roman letter notation. This arrangement is also rough and difficult to learn. In order to input one character, furthermore, a greater number of key operations are required.
A certain manufacturer has presented a trial product in which the phonetic symbols of the Chinese language are arranged by intuition. This arrangement is shown in FIG. 8. For example, when xe2x80x9c[CHARCTER 1]xe2x80x9d is to be input, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c5xe2x80x9d is pressed down once. When xe2x80x9c[CHARCTER 2]xe2x80x9d is to be input, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c5xe2x80x9d is pressed down twice. This arrangement is simple but the number of key operations is too large. For example, when xe2x80x9c[CHARCTER 3]xe2x80x9d is to be input, the total number of key operations is 15 (the key of xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d should be pressed down four times, xe2x80x9c7xe2x80x9d pressed twice, xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d pressed four times, xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d pressed five times). The total of legitimate combinations of the phonetic symbols of the Chinese language is 1,356. According to the arrangement of the input method, the average number of a set of key operations needs to be 9.5.
[CHARACTER 1]

[CHARACTER 2]

[CHARACTER 3]

There is another example. FIG. 9 illustrates a method of arranging the phonetic symbols of xe2x80x9ca method of inputting the Chinese language by a character sound utilizing a numeric keyxe2x80x9d disclosed in Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 73889. In this method, each phonetic symbol is encoded by a key arrangement to set a code of xe2x80x9c[CHARACTER 4]xe2x80x9d to 12 (because it is the second symbol of the numeric key of xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d, a code of xe2x80x9c[CHARACTER 5]xe2x80x9d to 31 (because it is the first symbol of the numeric key of xe2x80x9c3xe2x80x9d), and a code of xe2x80x9c[CHARACTER 6]xe2x80x9d to 74 (because it is the fourth symbol of the numeric key of xe2x80x9c7xe2x80x9d), for example. For a tone symbol, the Second, Third, Fourth and Light Tones of the Chinese language are arranged on the numeric keys of xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c3xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c4xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c5xe2x80x9d, respectively. According to this invention, characters are input by means of the above-mentioned codes and tone symbol keys. For example,
when xe2x80x9c[CHARACTER 7]xe2x80x9d is to be input, 1411722 is pressed down, and
when xe2x80x9c[CHARACTER 8]xe2x80x9d is to be input, 3355742 is pressed down.
[CHARACTER 4]

[CHARACTER 5]

[CHARACTER 6]

[CHARACTER 7]

[CHARACTER 8]

According to this method, one phonetic symbol is input by two keys and is combined with one tone symbol key, thereby inputting one character. As compared with an input method shown in FIG. 8, the number of key operations can be decreased in this method. The average number of key operations for one character approximately needs 5.7. In order to input one phonetic symbol by using two keys, it is necessary to press down two keys which are usually different from each other and the same key is not pressed down twice. It is inconvenient. Moreover, the key arrangement of the phonetic symbols is slightly rough and thus it is difficult for a user to learn the corresponding keys to the phonetic symbols. Therefore, it takes a long time to completely use these keys.
The above-mentioned inventions according to the prior art have the following problems:
(1) The method of arranging the corresponding keys of the phonetic symbols is too rough and a convenience is bad;
(2) Since the number of key operations required to input the Chinese language is too large, it takes a long time to input data in Chinese;
(3) Although twelve or more keys in the keypad of a telephone set or a remote control controlling a television set or audio products can be utilized, the twelve keys are not completely used in the prior art. Therefore, the number of the phonetic symbols corresponding to a single key is too large. Thus, it is hard to learn for users.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first aspect of the present invention is directed to a method for inputting Chinese using numeric keys in which. Chinese characters are input on a device having a numeric keypad, a storage and a display. The method comprises:
setting a key signal to phonetic symbol corresponding section to allocate all phonetic symbols of the Chinese language on the numeric keys so that three.Medials are allocated on one numeric key and Initials with Finals or Finals with Tones are selectively allocated on the other numeric keys, and to store therein each key signal and a phonetic symbol corresponding to the key signal based on the allocation;
setting, in the storage, a dictionary for storing phonetic symbols each with a single Chinese character or word, the single Chinese character or the word corresponding to the phonetic symbol;
inputting a key signal from the keypad based on user""s operation in accordance with a correspondence rule of the key signal to the phonetic symbol;
retrieving a phonetic symbol or a tone symbol from the key signal to phonetic symbol corresponding section in response to the key signal input by the user;
collating the retrieved phonetic symbol or the retrieved tone symbol with phonetic symbols already input to obtain a corresponding phonetic symbol or a corresponding tone symbol in accordance with a combination rule of the number of key operations and the phonetic symbol of the Chinese language;
deciding whether the obtained symbol is a phonetic symbol or a tone symbol, and returning to the inputting a key signal to wait for user""s input when the obtained symbol is decided to be a phonetic symbol, or searching the dictionary based on a phonetic symbol string already input to retrieve a corresponding single Chinese character or a corresponding word and then output the retrieved character or word to the display when the obtained symbol is decided to be a tone symbol; and
returning to the inputting a key signal to wait for a next input while the user gives no command for stopping the input.
The method of allocating the numeric key and the phonetic symbol corresponding to the numeric key in the setting a key signal to phonetic symbol corresponding section may have a configuration shown in FIG. 2.
More specifically, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d may correspond to symbols shown in Table A, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d to symbols shown in Table B, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c3xe2x80x9d to symbols shown in Table C, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c4xe2x80x9d to symbols shown in Table D, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c5xe2x80x9d to symbols shown in Table E, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c6xe2x80x9d to symbols shown in Table F, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c7xe2x80x9d to symbols shown in Table G, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d to symbols or a tone symbol shown in Table H, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c9xe2x80x9d to symbols shown in Table I, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d to symbols shown in Table J, a numeric key of xe2x80x9c*xe2x80x9d to symbols shown in Table K, and a numeric key of xe2x80x9c#xe2x80x9d to symbols shown in Table L. The above-mentioned each table is as follows.
A second aspect of the present invention is directed to an apparatus for inputting Chinese using numeric keys which has a numeric keypad, a storage and a display. The apparatus comprises a key signal to phonetic symbol corresponding section, a dictionary, a phonetic symbol and tone symbol deciding section, a Chinese character conversion section and a system controller.
The key signal to phonetic symbol corresponding section allocates all phonetic symbols of the Chinese language on the numeric keys so that three Medials are allocated on one numeric key and Initials with Finals or Finals with Tones are specified to be allocated on the other numeric keys, and for storing therein each key signal and a phonetic symbol corresponding to the key signal based on the allocation.
The dictionary stores phonetic symbols each with a single Chinese character or word. The single Chinese character or the word corresponds to the phonetic symbol.
The phonetic symbol and tone symbol deciding section collates a key signal input by a user with phonetic symbols already input based on the key signal and the number of key operations, and deciding whether the input key corresponds to a phonetic symbol or a tone symbol to decide whether the key signal is continuously received or is converted into the Chinese language.
The Chinese character conversion section searches the dictionary by using the obtained legitimate phonetic symbol string as a search key to carry out conversion into a corresponding single Chinese character or a corresponding word.
The system controller controls the key signal, and controls procedure for converting the phonetic symbol into the Chinese character and an output of data.
It should be noted that this application is based on the Japanese Patent Application No. 11-109310, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.